Author Harry Hunsicker spins tales of Dallas that don’t fit the glitzy image advocated by the Chamber of Commerce. His Dallas is one of dope dens, backstabbing in the barrios as well as city hall, a river and a roadway system that was deliberately constructed to divide the rich and poor, where the ends justify the means in you are on the winning side of the deal. Where the streets are paved with broken dreams amidst the cracked asphalt and where babies are born with no hope and no chance to get out. This view was part of the backbone of his very good Lee Henry Oswald Mystery Series (begin with Still River) and is also present in the Jon Cantrell Thriller Series. The second book in the series, Shadow Boys, picks up a few months after, The Contractors and leads readers on a history lesson while dealing with a violence fueled here and now though not all of the violence comes by way a weapon.

When he isn’t messing with the tourists at the Grassy Knoll by tossing around empty rifle cartridges, Jon Cantrell works for a law firm out of Washington, D. C. He is paid well to discreetly handle situations that arise when government shipments of important cargo are not returned or fall into the wrong hands. While the law firm prefers that he not moonlight, in this case, his boss has granted Jon Cantrell permission to meet with someone that they would like to have a relationship with going forward.

That someone is Deputy Chief Raul Delgado of the Dallas Police Department who is a rising star in the DPD despite, or maybe inspite, of his violent background. The movers and shakers have begun grooming Delgado and offering advice as they believe that he is a person who someday might be sitting in the governor’s mansion down in Austin or occupying a legislative seat in Washington. The same drive that got Delgado to where is now is the same drive that in some ways is preventing him from rising further. While aware of that dichotomy, Delgado is more focused on a mission of a personal nature. Delgado wants a certain 13 year old autistic boy who lives with his elderly grandmother in West Dallas found. The child has been possibly missing for a few days now and the details of his living situation are very sketchy. Delgado can’t use the vast resources of the DPD and needs a man with the proper skills as well as being sufficiently motivated to get the job done. Considering the boy’s name is Tremont Washington Jon Cantrell is most definitely the man on both counts. Not only does he have the skill set, Jon Cantrell owes a debt to Tremont’s father that he can never repay. Cantrell is also seriously annoyed that despite what he had been told by the Texas Department of Public Safety ten years ago the family was never relocated to California and has remained in a very bad situation in West Dallas.

Tremont Washington has to be found. That storyline is the primary storyline for the book which features several other storylines all interconnected in various ways to the primary hunt for the child. Throw in a missing government weapons shipment, an out of control SWAT officer, city politics, and a series of vigilante murders, among other items, and things get very interesting in the Texas heat.

Shadow Boys is a fast moving and intense read that surpasses the first book, The Contractors. Interspaced with the action and the mystery are small flashes of cynical and often sarcastic humor. Violence comes in many forms in this thriller as does political expediency and deceit. As in the first book of the series, there is some hard edged sarcasm about the city along the Trinity River that has no real reason for being other than sheer force of will. While the Chamber of Commerce may hate Hunsicker’s non photo shopped version of Big D, the author showcases yet again that he has a very good understanding of makes the city and its residents tick in various ways. Along the way he delivers a complex thriller that crisscrosses time and space all across the city proving that Shadow Boys is one book to make sure and read.

Book Three in the series is titled THE GRID and was released August, 2015. The book is in my tbr pile and will be read and reviewed soon.

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